for legal professionals who click

Monthly Archives: March 2010

I was approached by more than one person with positive feedback on my thoughts re: Day 1 of Techshow. What I quickly learned though was that if I did not SCHEDULE time to blog, I was not going to find it. Seriously, who wants to go to their room alone when so much is going on? Not me! Therefore, sorry for the delay but here is the Synopsis of Day 2 and a quick mention of Day 3.

Day 2:

Attended Computing in the Cloud session with David Bilinsky and Matt Kesner. Honestly, I could listen to David talk all day. Along with understanding a lot of the implications of cloud computing, he has a voice like butter!

Next was Hey You, Got Onto My Cloud with Catherine Sanders Reach. Catherine looks like a girly girl, but just like AdrianaL – she’s all geek. Lots of recommended cloud applications which I will share in the near future.

Next, I went to the Taking Your Office Virtual session with Nicole Garton-Jones and Alan Wernick. I don’t believe this session was properly titled as it was more of what you can do if virtual than how to get virtual. By the way, if youw ant to learn of one of my recommended techs to get you virtual fast, join me on April 7th – more info here.)

As for touring the Expo, on Day 2 I got to meet up with Larry Port and @ArielD – the main peeps from RocketMatter who were this year accompanied by the lovely Kim (also a Palm girl). I learned at TechShow that RocketMatter is integrating trust accounting into their on line practice management tech – worth a look/assessment for those considering taking their practice management into the cloud.

I wrapped up Day 2′s sessions with Beyond the Keyboard – Workflow Alternatives with Britt Lorish. Britt is a fellow non-lawyer and she and I also share a love of lots of the same 80’s New Wave music. Her session was informative and Britt had actual equipment which she invited attendees to hold and ask questions. Britt is a great speaker, however, her talk revolved around Dragon and I still think that speech recognition removes the most important part of the process: the human brain. Dictation is not just about getting words on a page – it is delegation by voice … really, really.

Completing Day 2‘s educational sessions was the very popular 60 Tips in 60 Minutes.

From there, it was off to the hotel lobby bar to meet up with Kevin O’Keefe and the Beer for Bloggers event; then a taste of Chicago Style pizza with @BSchorr and @DominicJaar, followed by a wonderful evening with @AlanKlevan and @AllisonShields, @CarolynElefant, a few vendors and other legal geeky types at Chicago’s Sushi Samba. Lots of fun, even if no dancing (unless you count JD Supra‘s Managing Director Aviva bopping and moving to the tunes every so often)(FYI, she’s another Palm girl). In any event, certainly a fun time was had by all and thanks again to @goclio‘s Jack for his company and hospitality!

Day 3 constituted going to only one session – the ever popular 60 Websites in 60 Minutes. Lots of websites worth a look – the full list is here. Maybe next year will be my year. 😉

Started off with Welcome by ABA Techshow Chair Debbie Foster at 8am and right into the first session: Creating Your Online Presence with Carolyn Elefant and Nicole Black. I quickly learned that there was no way the internet could keep up with the speed of my tweets or the content, so have taken notes and will add a post with them later today. Good intel!

Next up was the Expo – lots of good stuff here. I’m not saying that LegalTech NY doesn’t have good stuff – it’s just a completely different vibe in the room. Lots of people actually talking to the vendors instead of just trying to grab a give away.

Spoke with:
1. Corel – who just launched X5 which I will also review on the blog later this month.
2. Clio – on line practice management. Can’t say enough good things about this product or the people running the company.
3. Legal Workspaces – new to the legal tech scene, this company offers you a virtual desktop (so all programs for running your law practice are maintained on their servers in Denver). Pretty cool.
4. NY Times – signed up for Sunday delivery for less than $3 per week (can’t get that price in NY!)
5. Direct Law – this one’s interesting. They help lawyers get virtual, but there’s more. They have a product that is like a law firm’s own private LegalZoom. Clients go on line and answer questions and documents are generated automatically; then reviewed by law firm. Definitely keeping this one on my radar.

That’s about it for now. Gotta get back down to try to locate the Solosezzer who registered on the SuperPass but then called me right before the Keynote to say they didn’t have her registration.

You process much more information than you did ten years ago. But do you have more time every day to do so?Unfortunately, while the practice of law has changed, the laws of physics have not. A day still has only 24 hours and you still need to sleep.

Enter D-A-F-T — an organizational system created by yours truly. D-A-F-T incorporates some of the principles of other systems including Getting Things Done, Zero Inbox and Time Blocking but D-A-F-T has two important differences:

less of a time commitment; and

more flexibility.

Click on the image, download the 4 page .pdf and put D-A-F-T to work in your practice today:

Thanks for the DAFT article in Technolawyer. I know a lot of people who could benefit from it.

Dave

Thanks for the info on printing the emails. I started using your DAFT system and my life is already so much easier.

I recently interviewed Ben Schorr, principle of Roland, Schorr & Tower, a legal IT firm based in Hawaii. Ben has decades of experience working with local firms in setting up their technology; and is the author of several books, including The Lawyers Guide to Outlook 2007.

A majority of our talk revolves around one of my favorite topics – keeping your information and equipment secure and working for you; but we cover a few other items as well. In this 20 minute interview, Ben also gives out some great tips and few free and for fee product recommendations:

The first LegalTypist SuperPass group of 10 has been secured and submitted. I’m working list #2.

SuperPass gets you a full conference pass, including attendance at the Welcome Reception, for only $497.50. If you’re not a member of the ABA, that’s less than half the rate for this informative and fun conference.

To be included on List #2, simply send your contact information in an e-mail to techshow@legaltypist.com. You’ll receive an e-mail confirmation that you’ve been added to the list.

If/when list #2 gets to 10 – all will be notified and registration forms sent out. Payment can be via check or credit card.